Renee Bartruff Fund

Renee has been my best friend since I was three! She’s also an amazing wife to her high school sweetheart Mike, and an even more amazing mother to her two beautiful girls Rylee and Mira. She’s a Registered Nurse on a maternal child floor. She also has stage 4 cancer mucinous adenocarcinoma of the peritoneum.  Her cancer started in her ovary. Less than 5% of ovarian cancers are the type that Renee has. Out of that 5% just a small fraction actually spread into the peritoneum. Her cancer is very rare. 

 So here’s a little back story of Renee’s battle with cancer. Back in 2016 Renee finally got pregnant after trying for a second baby for three years. During her pregnancy she learned that she had another ovarian cyst. Renee has had a few removed prior to this so we all assumed it was what she had prior. Her pregnancy became high risk with this cyst. In March of 2017 at 37 weeks pregnant Renee was scheduled for a cesarean section and after that they were going to remove her cyst and ovary. When the doctor was taking out the cyst it ruptured inside her abdominal cavity. A Few weeks later we learned the cyst that ruptured was cancerous. So all the fluid that ruptured inside her spread cancerous cells everywhere in her abdominal cavity.

  In October Renee had a HIPEC surgery. They cut her from her breastbone straight down to her pubic bone. They removed several cancerous spots on her diaphragm, removed a section of her bowels and her appendix. They then put warm chemo into her abdomen and swished it around for ninety minutes. Then December 19th Renee started Chemo. Her chemo was every two weeks for six months. Renee would go in on a Tuesday have an eight hour infusion then go home on a pump for the next 48 hours. Then when the pump got taken off she would get a shot that helped boost her white blood cells. Between the shot and chemo Renee would feel miserable for several days. She spent her good week squeezing her hours into work. Yes she’s crazy strong and managed to work through her six months of chemo!  She finished chemo the last week of March!  The doctor told her to enjoy summer and in August they’d do more scans and an exploratory surgery to see how the chemo worked.  At this point we thought the six months of chemo were more of a precautionary measure. Well after her scans and the exploratory surgery we were proven wrong. 

  The doctors from the university of Chicago are now saying the chemo wasn’t effective at all and using words like terminal and said with treatment she may have a year left.  Which is completely shocking! We were not expecting any of this. 

   Now Renee is looking at some second opinions. Soon she’ll be going to MD Anderson in Texas. They actually deal with mucinous cancers. We’re hoping they have better answers and a treatment plan that gives Renee a future with her family and friends, especially her two young daughters. 

   My hope with this gofundme page is that we can take a lot of the financial burden off Renee and her family. I want to raise enough money to help with their monthly bills, the cost of traveling for treatment and her medical bills.  

   Any amount donated is greatly appreciated as it will help us reach our goal.